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05/04/2003 Page: M7 Section: Travel LETTERS
Yesterday I looked forward to coming home from work and finishing up the
Sunday Globe, especially the Travel section, and I was shocked - shocked!
- at the article "How
to win friends and influence Parisians" (April 27).
I have no problem at all reading criticisms of Americans' behavior overseas,
but couldn't Ethan Gilsdorf have done better than to trot out the same
old, tired cliches? Or if he couldn't do better, couldn't he have at least
presented them in a clever way, a la P.J. O'Rourke? Do you really think
that Globe travel readers are so unsophisticated?
An ad hominem attack against Mr. Gilsdorf: He's spent too much time among
the French.
The French do a lot of things well - I can't resist their food, and Paris
is an amazing city. However, when it comes to really good critiques of
America, they are, like Mr. Gilsdorf's article, hackneyed. "Les cowboys!"
"Down with McDonald's!" "Americans just don't understand complex issues."
Blah, blah, blah. And their sense of humor is just a little too influenced
by such comedic marvels as Jerry Lewis.
See? I can be cliched, too!
I could have read that claptrap anywhere on the Internet.
MacKENZIE MALCOLM Boston
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